Lough Bray

(10 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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Duration: about 2 hours
A shortish walk around Lough Bray Lower, with great views over secluded Lough Bray lodge. A longer walk around both Lough Bray Upper and Lough Bray Lower is also possible, but I prefer the shorter walk myself.

Eagles Crag

Lough Bray Upper

Lough Bray Lodge

Route

The route starts at the path beside the gatehouse to Lough Bray lodge. There is a layby a hundred metres or so further along the road where its possible to park, although it can get tricky to find space in summer.

Gatehouse at start of route

Path at start of walk

Follow the path away from the road and you will soon see Lough Bray Lower. Follow the path around to the left and around the lough where it then climbs steeply up to Eagle Crag. There are excellent views over both loughs, and of Lough Bray lodge. View over Lough Bray Upper from Eagle Crag

From Eagle Crag, bear right and follow the path along the ridge around Lough Bray Lower. This returns to the road to the north of the gatehouse, from where it is a short walk back to the start of the route.

Hmm, I’m not sure any of the walks here area really feasible with a pram. I do have a couple of new walks which I would say would be ok with a pram – one in Cruagh Wood and the other at the Lead Chimney near the Scalp – but I haven’t had time to add them online just yet. Will try to get them posted up asap.

Well done with your site. I climbed up Eagles Nest above Lough Bray and back to Gate lodge with 5 kids – youngest being 3 years old in approx 2 hrs. Myself and few friends have started doing 20km walks along Wicklow Way. Do you know of a route around the Lough Bray Upper and lower which would take approx 3.5 – 4 hrs? We want to avoid having to walk on the roads?

did a nice walk last Saturday, 21/05/11. Started in Crone car park. Up WW as far as Glenspolan edge, then up to Maulin summit. From there across to Tonduff South and then Tonduff North.

Descended from Summit cairn down to Military Road. Intended to do a circuit of the two Lough’s Bray. However could not see any kind of track or path coming down, (or going up!!) for Upp Lough Bray.

Did wonder if it would be possible to take the Kippure Road up for a few hundred feet, and then switch over towards Upr Lough Bray? I needed to do it from that side, as it would then be simple to road walk back down along Glencree Valley to Crone car park.

I did this walk this morning, and it was lovely with the lakes and mountain. My only rant is I forgot about our Irish weather condition that made the entire path a swamp. You had to go very slowly and watch every step and even still I fell over several times sliding in the muck.

Just back from this walk. Did the loop all around lower lake with 3 kids (youngest 3 and oldest 6) and took 3 1/2 hours but stopped 3 times for breaks/lunch etc. Very mucky (husband scrubbing shoes in sink right now!!) and quite hard to find path after leaving Eagle Crag, and it seemed to us like you just had to go across country for a bit which was hard going but maybe we missed something? The whole thing was a great adventure for the kids, the views were stunning and the weather was amazing for an early November day.

Welldone on your fantastic website. Did this walk today and it took me just over 2.5 hours including a 20min stop on Eagle Crag which was beautiful and stopping for great photo’s along the way. Let me say firstly that I am a 60year old with more determination than fitness and carrying excess baggage.
This walk is not like a lot of the wicklow way sections as the trail is extreamely mucky and difficult underfoot. I did slip a few times despite taking care. The trail is very difficult to find in parts especially on way down from Eagle Crag and I ended up coming out much further up the road than I needed to be.
I would recommend very good walking boots and think walking poles would be useful on this walk.

Thanks for the walk, completed in 150 mins. First section was very overgrown with high ferns and heather. Quite hard to find path, however after at least 30 minutes I found a trek. The climb up to eagles crag is quite steep and not for the faint hearted.
Wild mountain goats and sheep are to be seen, first part of walk from eagles crag very enjoyable. I seemed to have veered off too far too the left and joined the road 2 km from the layby after a final section of ferns etc.
I would recommend strong boots and a good walking stick or poles. I was lucky because of 3 dry days in advance, however still soft in spots.

I walked Lough Bray Lower last weekend, found it enjoyable and challenging. I think it is suitable for dogs, but you wouldn’t get a buggy around the walk. The ground was very wet and mucky so there was the odd slip along the way, but if you don’t mind getting dirty, this walk can become a good adventure. The climb to the top of Eagle Crag is steep, but the views and scenery up there make the climb worthwhile. The track can be hard to make out at times, but if you keep the lake to your right hand side at all times then you will come full circle around the lake and back to the start of the walk. My dog was well able for this walk and even the climb to the top of Eagle Crag. Great site by the way, I plan to do a few more of your suggested walks!

[…] pictures of a ‘nice quiet walk in the countryside’ I went on last week, courtesy of wicklowwalks.com. Shortish walk, they said. Easy, they said. More mud than you have ever seen in your life, they […]

Did this today in fairly bad weather. The previous posters who’ve taken small kids on the full route must be mad – there’s far safer walks available, including several marked on this site. While you could probably take the route anti-clockwise with small children as far as the Eagle’s Crag, taking them clockwise up the Eagle’s Crag is a bad idea. The area’s very boggy, and holds water for a long time after it rains. I reckon I busted a rib slipping off it it this morning.

Anyway, if you’re taking kids out for a long walk, I’d suggest somewhere like the Devil’s Glen, one of the lower walks around Glendalough, or around Lough Dan.

Just did this walk. Loved it. I have just started hill walking. At first I thought I wouldn’t make it, but I did. Love the website. Will do more walks from the website.
Would have loved to know how many km I did and the climb.

Hi! I did the walk today with 3 more friends (all in their 30ies). It took about 2.5-3hrs and it was fantastic! It was not busy (e.g. like Glendalough where buses drop dozens of people): we almost had the trail alone for us. I would recommend waterproof hiking shoes as it can get plashy which makes the trail exciting and gives you a sense of achievement!. Views and scenery are second to none! Thank you guys, this is an excellent blog and inspires my wife and me what to do during weekends!

A great walk today up to eagle crag, We were very lucky with the weather, We started the walk from the gatehouse sticking to the directions you provided. The trail was very mucky i would definitely advise wearing gaiters, the ascent to the eagles crag was steep enough and involved abit of a scramble but the views were worth it, the only thing is on the way back from the top of Eagle Crag, as you bear right and follow the path along the ridge around Lough Bray Lower the trail forked just as you follow the trail behind lough bray lodge along the ridge, we took the left trail which was the wrong path which took us away from the road we should have taken the right trail to lead us back to the road north of the gatehouse.